Relaxation
by james-t-kirktacular
Summary: Leonard employs a new and slightly frightening strategy to help Jim de-stress. Rated for references to violence. Warnings inside; mirrorverse, non-sexual infantilism


**Any warnings in case you are unaware:** this story features **infantilism**, which means grown adult/s acting like infants. Jim (in this case, Mirror!Jim) is the one who is the "infant" in this scenario, and Bones (Mirror!Bones) is his caretaker. Because of this, Jim does and should seem out of character and has little to no emotional boundaries, and Bones bathes him. The scene is purely **non-sexual**. If these criteria do not meet your expectations, it would be better to leave now than get your hopes up.

Otherwise, enjoy.

—

Jim had gone too far, this time. He'd refused to come to his monthly check-up, but that was just the first strike, because when Leonard had sent a few of his staff members to collect him he'd thrown a fit, broken two of their legs, one of their arms, stabbed another in the neck and bit the last one's ear off before screaming bloody murder when he was finally hauled off to Sickbay and restrained to a biobed so Leonard could do his goddamn job. Instead of being a mature adult about it and going to Sickbay of his own volition, Jim had sent five of Leonard's own staff into recovery over a fucking check-up. The bastard was just looking for a spanking.

But Leonard had done his job with little to no bitter sarcasm, running his tricorder over Jim to make sure he was good and healthy while the blond thrashed in his restraints and snarled. He'd allowed Leonard to wipe the blood off his face from when he'd ripped one of his nurses' ears off, but only after scowling and baring his teeth, and as soon as he was released he was stalking out of Sickbay, as if he had better things to do.

Yeah, right. Leonard knew Jim hadn't even been working when his check-up time had rolled around; he'd just been hiding in the Jeffries tubes in a desperate attempt to avoid the inevitable. The man was a fucking terror, and Leonard knew Jim positively loathed hospitals and anything related to them, but that didn't mean he could just ignore his own health in favor of literally anything else. The fact that Jim had ultimately been so despicable today _on purpose_ just let Leonard know how stressed he was. Usually he tried to at least not _fatally_ wound Leonard's lackeys, but not today. He was bottling up something and Leonard had an obligation as his doctor and his partner to find out what it was and fix it.

So, as soon as Leonard's shift was over, he made his way up to the bridge where Jim was sat sprawled in his chair, looking bored and a little irritated, and grabbed his ear between his thumb and forefinger and _tugged_. Jim yelped and flinched, but Leonard kept his grip firm as he pulled him out of his chair and back through the halls to their cabin, Jim scowling and threatening him and struggling the whole way, until the door closed behind them and Leonard let him go. Jim reeled back and raised his hand to rub at his raw red ear, glaring at him heatedly. "What the fuck, Bones?!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Leonard asked in response, planting his hands on his hips and giving Jim a look. "You nearly killed one of my nurses over a fucking check-up."

Jim looked properly sheepish, but angrily so, and sneered at him, lowering his hand and clenching his fists at his sides. Leonard could tell he was at least slightly remorseful about it, but he was hiding it. Or, trying to. He wasn't doing it very well. "So? What are you going to do about it?" He sounded expectant, like he was trying to purposefully rile Leonard up, and Leonard knew he was. He didn't let it get to him, though; he knew Jim was just trying to get him angry, get him to punish him to take his mind off of whatever was stressing him out.

Leonard wasn't going to fall for it. So, instead of doing what Jim wanted, he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, before saying, more warmth in his voice than he thought he could muster, "Jim, I understand that you have a thing about hospitals. I understand that you don't like being poked and prodded like some kind of science experiment. I get that, I do. But I also know that you don't usually act this violently unless something is bothering you." Jim opened his mouth to argue, but Leonard just clapped his hand over it to keep him from doing so. It made him narrow his eyes murderously, and he tried to bite at the hand to get it away from him, but Leonard persevered. "And _because_ I know this, I'm not going to punish you."

That made Jim stop, and he blinked, confused and slightly hurt. Leonard removed his hand from his mouth and used both of them to cup his face, and _that_ made Jim's eyebrows furrow in puzzlement. Gentleness wasn't their thing. Neither of them showed affection freely. It set Jim on edge and Leonard knew it, but he wasn't going to back down from this. Jim needed to relax and being paddled and fucked into the mattress only helped so much. Maybe it was time for a change.

"You can safeword out of this whenever you want, okay?" Leonard told him, continuing to speak when Jim's expression scrunched up even further in befuddlement. After all, he had just said he wasn't going to punish him, but Jim was only ever equated his safeword with stinging soreness and red skin and a bone-deep ache, but Leonard knew that what he had in mind had the possibility of putting him severely out of his comfort zone, so it was a necessity. "It's not going to involve any kind of restraints, or painplay, or fucking, but it will involve something that you… may or may not find degrading or humiliating. _I_ don't see it that way, but I know you might, and you deserve to feel comfortable using your safeword if you feel uneasy about it. Okay?"

Jim blinked, opening his mouth to speak before shutting it again and averting his eyes as he contemplated Leonard's words. It took a few long, drawn-out seconds, seconds where Leonard knew Jim was wondering if he should allow himself to trust Leonard so explicitly when he didn't even know what was going to happen, but he assumed that trust won out, because he eventually let out a shaky breath and nodded jerkily in agreement. "Okay," he said, voice small, and Leonard gave him a reassuring smile before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his forehead. The non-harsh contact made Jim jump slightly in surprise, but he leant back into it subconsciously when Leonard pulled back. The doctor then reached down, grabbed both of Jim's hands, and began gently tugging him towards the bathroom, where he sat him on the toilet seat and knelt beside the bath, turned on the taps, plugged the drain, and let the warm water begin to slosh into the tub. Once he was pleased with the temperature and the speed of the water entering the tub, he stood back up and said, "Wait here" before leaving to fetch some pajamas.

Jim didn't actually _have_ pajamas (he tended to sleep in his underwear or nothing at all), so Leonard grabbed some of his own – a baggy gray sweatshirt that had been worn down with age to a pleasant softness, and a pair of royal blue fleece flannel pants. They were _cozy_, for lack of a better word, and would get Jim to relax easier.

When he returned to the bathroom with the articles of clothing folded neatly in his arms, the tub was almost full and Jim was still sitting on the toilet seat, looking decidedly uncomfortable and rubbing his hands together restlessly, likely rethinking his choice to let Leonard do this. He looked up at him when the door slid back open, visibly relieved that he had returned and hadn't simply left him there for fun, and – once Leonard had set the pajamas down on the counter – stood when he was asked. It was when Leonard began removing Jim's clothes, leisurely revealing his scarred bare skin and lightly pecking his lips to each one, tossing the blood stained fabric into the recycler as he went, that he could tell the blond was really beginning to panic, the way he was shaking minutely and the way his heart was beating faster than normal giving it away. "Remember your safeword," he reminded him, reaching up to press kisses to his forehead, his temple, his cheeks, his chin, his nose, and heard Jim suck in a heavy breath before letting it out slowly, gradually calming back down and letting Leonard return to his task.

Soon enough, the tub was full, Jim was naked, and Leonard was still fully clothed. He could see him still shivering, more out of anxiety than being cold despite the goosebumps on his skin. Leonard turned off the taps and urged Jim into the water, and the blond actually let his shoulders droop as the heat of the liquid seeped into his tense calf muscles, letting out a small sigh as he was lowered into the water until he sat on the floor of the tub. Then, Leonard cupped his hands in the pool of water and dumped it over Jim's head, soaking his hair and grabbing his bottle of shampoo to begin lathering his hair.

Jim leant into the strokes through his hair and the light tugs on his scalp, nearly being lulled into a doze under his ministrations, before Leonard dumped another handful of water over his head and rinsed the drenched blond locks clear of soapy bubbles. After that, he grabbed a rag, wet it, soaped it up, and started in on washing him clean. Jim had been exceptionally stiff at the beginning of this part, letting Leonard lift up his arms and legs and move them every which way to get in his crevices, letting him calmly rub the dried on blood off his chest and hands, letting him carefully rub his scar tissue clean to keep the sensitive skin from twinging with pain without barely a twitch, but before long Jim was squirming delicately, pursing his lips so he didn't smile when Leonard's gentle ministrations began to tickle him. It made Leonard smile, knowing that his plan was starting to take effect and Jim was slowly but surely letting his walls down. Before long, however, Jim was all clean and washed up, so Leonard pulled the plug on the tub and helped Jim to his feet as the water drained. He could see the slightly disappointed pout on Jim's face when he had to stand, but it was gone just as quickly as he stepped out of the tub.

He was wobbly, but let Leonard support him while the doctor dried him off with the biggest, fluffiest towel they had on hand, leaving his skin scrubbed dry and fresh and pink and his hair stuck up all over the place. Then, Leonard made Jim raise his arms so he could pull his sweatshirt over Jim's head, and it settled lightly around his torso, baggy and loose-fitting. The flannel pants came next, and he had Jim step into those, his hands gripping Leonard's shoulders from where he was crouched in front of him to help keep his balance. He hiked the pants up until the waistband was snug around his hips, tugging the string taut and tying it into a bow so they wouldn't fall down.

Once Jim was completely dressed, Leonard grabbed his hand again and led him out of the bathroom into their bed chambers, helping him under the covers, fluffing his pillows, and tucking him in all safe and sound. Jim was blinking at him with wide eyes, clearly amazed with what he was doing but allowing him to do so nonetheless, and with another kiss to the forehead Leonard said, "I'll be right back, baby, I have a present for you." Jim appeared silently thrilled, if the tiny smile on his face was anything to go by, and when Leonard returned with his gift behind his back Jim seemed to be quivering with more excitement than uneasiness, and it made Leonard grin.

"Close your eyes, and no peeking," he said, and Jim did so obediently, clapping his hands over his eyes to make sure he didn't shoot a little glance at them accidentally. Leonard brought his hands out in front of him, sitting on the edge of the mattress next to Jim and settling his gift in Jim's lap before saying, "Okay, you can open them now."

Jim's hands removed themselves from his face and his eyes popped out immediately, and he blinked at the stuffed animal that was sitting innocently on top of the covers in front of him. It was a lion, with plush artificial fur and a thick mane of fake hair and button eyes. Jim blinked at it again before turning his questioning gaze to Leonard, who nodded to the toy, telling him, "Go ahead, it's for you." That was all the permission Jim needed; he reached his hands over and plucked it up, studying it closely, turning it this way and that until he was satisfied and cuddled it close to his chest tight in his arms, stuffing his thumb into his mouth and suckling contentedly, blinking tiredly at Leonard and letting out a little mewly yawn around his thumb.

Leonard just chuckled, leaning over and pressing another kiss to Jim's hairline before getting up and changing into his own pajamas (a much less cozy but still relatively comfortable black t-shirt and gray sweatpants). After that, he slid under the covers beside Jim, pulling him close and letting him nuzzle his nose into the joint between his shoulder and his throat, tangling their legs together and shoving his cold bare feet against Leonard's calves like the heat leech he was. Jim was out like a light in seconds, snuffling snores and tiny hums escaping him as he slept, and Leonard was soon to follow, combing his fingers through Jim's still damp hair and rubbing circles into his back.


End file.
